Can You Do Shoulders After Biceps Day? (Solved!)

There are many variables which determine how effective your workouts are.

Some well-known ones being:

• Number of sets & reps
• Rest time between sets
• Amount of weight being lifted

One of the lesser known ones, however, is the order in which you train different muscle groups throughout the week.

So, in this article, we discuss whether you can do shoulders after biceps day.

We look at the pros and cons of doing so, as well as looking at other muscle groups that you may want to work out after a heavy bicep day.

Ready?

Let’s get to it.

Can You Do Shoulders After Biceps Day?

Training shoulders after biceps day can be an effective way of working out and progressing your fitness goals.

While your shoulders do activate as secondary muscles in some bicep exercises (hammer curls for example), it’s not enough to tire them out.

This means when you train your shoulders the next day, they’ll be fresh and you can push them to their limit.

Benefits of Doing Shoulders After Biceps Day

You Can Alternate Between Pull And Push Workouts

Your biceps are a “pull” muscle and your shoulders are a “push” muscle.

This is handy to know as many people alternate their workouts between and pull and push movements.

If this is you, then working shoulders the day after your biceps will allow you to stick to this pull/push sequence.

You Can Target Your Upper Body More

Many gym-goers desire a strong, well built upper body.

Working 2 upper body muscles over 2 consecutive days can be a great way to develop your upper body.

Better yet, since your shoulders and biceps don’t overlap in many exercises, you can train them both with full force to maximize your gains!

So by training shoulders after biceps day, you can hit your upper body hard to progress your fitness goals.

Drawbacks of Doing Shoulders After Biceps Day

Targeting Two Small Muscle Groups Individually Might Not Be The Best Idea

Many gym-goers train their biceps and shoulders on the same day as other larger muscle groups.

For example, a push day will typically include some chest, shoulders and triceps exercises. A pull day will often include your back, biceps, and forearms.

By working out this way, you can train the same muscle groups multiple times throughout your training week, which helps maximize gains.

It also helps ensure that you have sufficient time to train all muscle groups in your training week.

If you train each muscle group individually, it can be difficult to fit them all into a single training week without training more than once per day.

(Especially if you allocate a full training day to smaller muscles like your shoulders and biceps.)

Should You Do Shoulders After Biceps Day?

This ultimately boils down to your preferred training method.

If you follow a pull/push split, then training shoulders after biceps may make sense for you.

However if you prefer to split your training sessions up into upper and lower body, you may be better off training shoulders and biceps on the same day.

As with many fitness questions, there’s no obvious right or wrong answer – it all comes down to what works best for you.

Is It Safe To Do Shoulders After Biceps Day?

It’s typically safe to do shoulders after biceps day given that you aren’t injured and you use a suitable weight with correct form.

If you feel any tension in your shoulders after training your biceps, you should factor this in when deciding how heavy to lift.

The last thing you want is to overtrain as this significantly increases your risk of injury.

Is It Better To Do Biceps After Shoulder Day?

As your biceps are pull muscles and your shoulders are push muscles, it doesn’t really matter which order you train them in.

During a pull/push split program, your shoulders and biceps are trained on consecutive days regardless of whether you do pull or push first.

That said, most people do their push workouts first which suggests that many people prefer doing biceps after shoulder day.

Other Muscle Groups To Train After Biceps Day

Legs

A lower body workout after biceps day can give your upper body enough rest so that it’s ready for a push/pull workout the next day.

Abs

Splitting up your training week with an ab workout can be a great way of allowing some time for your big muscle groups to recover.

Your abs work as stabilizing muscles in pretty much every unsupported exercise, so training them instead of having a rest day can be a great way to follow biceps day.